In my initial post on Rhapsody I concluded that local storage would complete the experience and I still feel that way today. Rhapsody works great on the tablet, but for streaming only and even though we are talking about the internet tablet here, there are plenty of times when you don’t have or want to use a connection. Local playback would really be handy with subscription content and in my experience has led me to purchase albums I was able to first “trial” via Rhapsody. For streaming only access though Rhapsody, seems a bit much to pay for when you can get most of the same experience from last.fm or pandora – though perhaps not so easily on your tablet. The main benefit is that you can create your own playlists in rhapsody while with internet radio you are only able to listen to what’s been programmed (thanks RIAA!).
I know quite a few people are not interested in DRM on the tablet (or anywhere), but there are certainly positive ways to spin this in the case of subscription services…. There really would not be any way to offer a subscription service without DRM or watermarking at the minimum.
If you’ve got an opinion here, let me here from you and please vote in Thoughtfix’s poll!
Zerojay and Texrat from the Internet Tablet Talk forums and (more recently) Jaiku got to talking and decided it would be great to offer services specifically to the tablet community. And so Jablet was born…
While clearly in very early beta, Jablet’s focus is on the use of Jabber which is built into the Tablet OS. While out of the box, you only have direct access to Google Talk (unless you use jabber today), they are working to make it very simple to get the rest of your IM accounts also flowing.
There’s a nice piece on the Jablet forums which walks you through setting up an account. I used the web form and then used a cross-platform and free jabber client called Psi to show the available transports (other services enabled on the server). It was just a matter of choosing my IM services and adding my login info to get AIM, MSN, Yahoo and Gtalk added. Gtalk is actually redundant when you run on the tablet, but it lets me keep tabs on Jaiku as well as my main IM stuff via Pidgin on when I am using a PC which I do not have admin privileges. Once this is configured a quick shot into the tablet’s accounts control panel and you can add your new Jablet account to be up in running. The whole process took me about 5 minutes.
Once your account is configured on the tablet, you’ll be connected to the Jablet server with access to your IM accounts from within the Tablet’s chat client. This is a really excellent addition for me as it’s one less application to install (Pidgin) and I can see and set presence from one application. I also have full access to all my IM contacts from across services within the contacts application! System notifications work seamlessly with all services through jabber which is very cool!
The Jablet guys are very interested in giving back to the community and want to develop services which let people enhance their Tablet experience. I’m in complete support of this and think it’s a fantastic idea! Well done! Even in this early stage it’s absolutely worth getting your IM services connected.
Orb’s intuitive solution simply streams a person’s own content from their home PC using the Web browser and media player of the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet thus creating a “personal media portal” from which users instantly access and enjoy home photos, videos, music, and even TV, from anywhere, anytime. With MyCasting, consumers can also remotely record TV programs using Orb’s Digital Video Recorder (DVR) function and then play back those recorded programs on the Nokia N800.
“The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet was developed to make it easy for people to access their favorite internet sites, content, and entertainment from the couch, airport or coffee shop- anywhere there is WiFi. Orb’s MyCasting is an excellent use of the device making it a jukebox of personal media,” said Ari Virtanen, vice president, Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia.
“Nokia offers a quality mobile web experience for users with the rich functionality being introduced in the N800 Internet Tablet,’ said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Orb Networks. “When Orb unlocks that personal digital content on the home PC, the N800 becomes the one connected device to enjoy it all whenever and wherever you want.The combination offers a new level of media freedom and control for the customer.”
The MyCasting service which will be demoed on the Nokia N800 at Nokia’s booth (# 402) at Web 2.0 Expo this week is free of charge and is immediately available for download from www.orb.com/n800 as well as from the Tableteer site, which can be accessed via the Nokia N800. There’s no need to download additional software for the N800. Using the built in media player and browser, Orb works instantly.
I tried this today (of course) and had some issues. I don’t have a PC (it’s PC only) here, so Parallels it is and that’s most likely my issue, because I was unable to stream any content on my LAN. I’ll give this another try later on courtesy of Ricky’s collection… Orb lets you share with friends.
I also had some issues initially getting past the security prompt on the http://my.orb.com. I had to clear about 5 accept the cert warnings and then another one as the page refreshed (for good measure perhaps) only to find that the process failed. I tried once again (per Ricky’s advice) and it did load, but I was not able to get anything to play.
I will say this… While this is potentially a cool application, I think the Orb UI requires far too many clicks to just play a song or a video — especially when you are told the media format you’ve selected is not compatible. Orb can be setup as a UPnP server as well as a web streamer so on your LAN, you can choose to run either Canola or the MediaStreamer application which may work better. If someone has success with this, please let me know!
I’ve never done an unboxing video so when a new N800 arrived today from the Nokia Blogger Relations Program, I thought this would be as good as anytime to get going. I realize now that the memory card adapter, I struggled with was just that an adapter… see what limited sleep can do to a geek??
I’ve broken things into two videos… First my unboxing, followed by my flashing the Firmware to Tablet OS 2007 v3 with a quick install and check-in with Rhapsody for good measure.
While the Feather service is truly free, it only applies if you live or are visiting a city in which Earthlink offers service and lasts through the end of this year. As you can see from the map below, the cities with coverage today are: Anaheim CA, Corpus Christi TX, Milipitas CA, New Orleans, LA and Philadelphia, PA.
I personally find the map to be a bit misleading as Earthlink has chosen to shade an entire state even if they have a single city covered… Typically cities set up their own rules for what’s free vs. pay (or even public) on MuniWireless networks so it’s possible it will continue to be free in some markets – though as someone living in a place without such a network, I can’t offer any firsthand experience. Please let me know if you have success with this or other muni-networks.
In order to use this service, you’ll need to set-up a free account and download a small piece of software which enables your connection. I found the link in the Tableteer homepage – on the Tablet. (I had actually seen it in my applications manager earlier today, but could not think of a reason why I’d want to install an earthlink app…) The application installs easily from the Feather site though I honestly can’t tell you more about it or the service since there’s no access point on the feather network in Westchester, NY!
Regardless this is still cool as the tablet makes a great MuniWireless communicator – you’ve got web, email, presence (IM) VOIP and of course now streaming music! My parting thought on this is that I’d really like to see Nokia do more deals!! T-Mobile (my preference given Starbucks coverage), Boingo, and Wayport all offer much more coverage and would open the possibilities for WiFi Roaming and make this even more compelling.
As noted earlier today, the Rhapsody application has been officially released. I’ve been using for much of the day and I’ve been very impressed with how it works so far.
Some background… Rhapsody is Real’s subscription music service. It allows you to have unlimited listening access to their library of 3 million songs with a low monthly fee ($9.95 – $14.95). While this has traditionally been a Windows only thing, you can do most of what you can do from Windows directly on your tablet which is quite handy. I believe this is actually the first portable version of the Rhapsody service which works this way.
Clicking on the artist name lets you view deeper info and explore on the web…
When you download the application, you’ll probably note similarities to the MediaStreamer application if you’ve used it. The main difference here, branding aside, is that you can connect directly to the Rhapsody service and listen online. Of course you need to setup an account, which is free for the first 30 days and you’ll be prompted to either sign-up or sign-in when you start up for the first time. If you decide to continue it will run $9.95/mo for the Rhapsody unlimited service. Windows users can also open the client on their desktops and actually download the tunes for offline access. Currently the N800 is not a supported portable player, though for some reason the Nokia 3300 “Taco” phone is…
Here’s a video run-through of what to expect:
I am very happy with this new application! While it’s nice to stream music from online radio stations, Rhapsody puts you in control of both freeform as well as programmed music — all in the palm of your hand! It’s easy to search for tracks or simply surf the library. I love that my playlists stay active between sessions and that adding tunes to MyLibrary is instantaneous, whether from the desktop or tablet.
The only real bug I can note for now is that you can’t actually login on the web via the Tablet’s browser as Rhapsody does not support this version of Opera. I have to think this was an oversight in the release process and hope it will get fixed quickly. It’s not critical to login to use things, but it would be nice to use your account outside of the player.
I do wish it was possible to sync/download tunes to your media cards, but there’s always the next release…
